This is clear and we have already elucidated its matter in the previous chapters.

We have already elucidated the explanation of this statement in Chapter 10 of Sanhedrin. And the sages, peace be upon them, have already brought attention to a wonderful innovation in the Torah in which there is inducement to the performance of the commandments. And it is its stating (Deuteronomy 4:41), "Then Moshe separated three cities in Transjordan, etc.," while knowing that they would not be effective - as they would not have the [status] of cities of refuge until the three others in the Land of Israel would be separated. They said (Makkot 10a), "Our teacher Moshe, peace be upon him, knew that these three cities in Transjordan do not shelter until the three cities in the Land of Israel would be separated, as it is stated (Numbers 35:13), 'they shall be six cities of refuge.' And he separated these nonetheless, since he said, 'Since a commandment has come to my hand, I will perform it.'" And if our teacher Moshe, peace be upon him - the fathomer of the truths, the [most] complete of the complete - was eager to add half of a positive commandment upon all of his rank and wholeness in this way, there is no need to say that those whose souls are leprous and their leprosy is strong and gaining should do [so].

And he said it is impossible that there not be for every man a time in which he can damage or benefit, and even with a small thing.

We have already elucidated and mentioned in the earlier chapters that humility is from the highest of traits. And it is the mean between pride and lowliness of spirit and it has no other name - just humility. But there are many names for pride: In the Hebrew language, high heart, elevated eyes, proud and high. And from the names of the sages, may their memory be blessed, [are] a high spirit, coarse-spirited and uppity. And across from them is lowliness of spirit. We have already explained in the fourth chapter (Eight Chapters 4:7) that a person needs to incline a little to one of the extremes until he establishes himself in the middle of, as a [type of] fence. But only in this trait from [all] the other traits - meaning to say with pride - due to the great deficiency of this trait for the pious ones and their knowledge of its damage, they distanced themselves to the other extreme and completely inclined towards lowliness of spirit, until there was no room for pride in their souls at all. And behold, I saw in a book from the books on characteristics that one of the important pious men was asked and told, "Which day is the one upon which you rejoiced more than any of your days?" He said [back], "The day that I was going on a boat and my place was in the lowest places of the boat among the packages of clothing, and there were traders and men of means on the boat [as well]. And I was laying in my place and one of the men of the boat got up to urinate and I was insignificant in his eyes and lowly - as I was very low in his eyes - to the point that he revealed his nakedness and urinated on me. And I was astonished by the intensification of the trait of brazenness in his soul. But, as God lives, my soul was not pained by his act at all and my strength was not aroused. And I rejoiced with a great joy that I reached the extreme that the disgrace of this empty one did not pain me and [that] my soul did not feel [anything] towards him." And it is without a doubt that this is the extreme of low spiritedness, to the point of being distanced from pride. And I will now mention a little of what the sages mentioned in praise of humility and [in] disgrace of pride. And it is because of this that this one commanded to come close to lowliness and said, "Be very, very lowly in spirit" - out of his fear that a person remain only in humility, all the more so that there be a trace of pride in him. As it is close to it, since modesty is the mean, as we mentioned. And they said (Talmud Yerushalmi Shabbat 1:3) in praise of humility [that like] that which wisdom made a crown for its head, humility made a sole for its heel - the explanation of which is its shoe - as it is written (Psalms 111:10), "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God." This is a proof that fear of God is greater than wisdom, as it is a cause for its existence. And it states (Proverbs 22:4), "[At the] heel of humility is the fear of sin," which is to say that you will find the fear of God at the heels of humility. If so, humility is much greater than wisdom. And they said (Megillah 31a), "This thing is written in the Torah and repeated in the Prophets and tripled in the Writings; every place that you find the greatness of the Holy One, blessed be He, you find His modesty: It is written in the Torah (Deuteronomy 10:17), 'the great God, etc.' And it is written after it (Deuteronomy 10:18), 'Who does the judgment of the orphan and the widow.' And it is repeated in the Prophets, as it is written (Isaiah 57:15), 'So speaks He who high aloft forever dwells, whose name is holy, "I dwell on high, in holiness."' And adjacent to it is '"with the contrite and the lowly in spirit."' And it is tripled in the Writings, as it is written (Psalms 68:5), 'extol Him who rides the clouds; the Lord is His name.' And it is written after it (Psalms 68:6), 'the Father of orphans and the Judge of widows.'" And you should learn from our teacher, Moshe, peace be upon him, in whom the intellectual virtues and the dispositional virtues were perfected - all of them directed to the level of prophecy - the master of Torah, the master of wisdom. And [yet] God, may He be blessed, praised him over every man with the trait of humility and stated (Numbers 12:3), "and Moshe the man is very humble, more than any person." And His stating, "very" is a sign of his great modesty and his inclining towards the side of the far extreme. And so, you will find him state (Exodus 16:7) "and what are we?" And so [too[ with David, 'the anointed of the God of Yaakov, the pleasant singer of the praises of Israel.' And he was an honored king, whose kingdom grew great and sword grew strong and who God, may He be blessed, designated through our teacher Moshe, peace be upon him, since he is the star that proceeded from Yaakov (Numbers 24:17), as the sages, may their memory be blessed, elucidated. And he was a prophet and the greatest of of the seventy elders [of his time], as he stated (II Samuel 23:8), "who sat in the sitting of the wise." And with all of this, he stated [about himself] (Psalms 51:19), "and a heart broken and crushed, God will not disgrace." And he increased in these virtues that indicate extreme modesty. And [the following is from] what the rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said about pride. They said (Sotah 4b), "Any man that has coarse-spiritedness is like he worshiped idolatry. Here it is written (Proverbs 16:5), 'An abomination of the Lord is anyone of a high heart'; and there it is written (Deuteronomy 7:26), 'And do not bring an abomination into your house.'" And they said, "It is like he denied a fundamental [of faith], as it is stated (Deuteronomy 8:14), 'And your heart grow high and you forget the Lord.'" And they said that the sin of pride is like one who has forbidden sexual relations: It states [about the latter] (Leviticus 18:27), "As they did all of these abominations." And they said (Sotah 4b) that one who becomes uppity is he, himself - for God - like idolatry itself. And they brought a proof from the statement (Isaiah 2:22), "'Cease from man, whose soul is in his nose' - meaning to say, of a high (haughty) spirit - 'for by what (vameh) is he estimated?' - do not read it as vameh, but rather bamah (an altar, as both words are written with the same three letters)." And they said [about] one that becomes uppity that it is fitting to kill him. And they said (Sotah 5a) that anyone who has coarse spirit in him is fitting to be cut down like a tree-god. It is written here (Isaiah 10:33), "the ones of high stature cut down"; and there it is written (Deuteronomy 7:5), "and their tree-gods shall you cut down." And they said that God, may He be blessed, will not revive during the revival of the dead those that became uppity. [This was] their saying, "Any man that has coarse spirit in him, his dust will not be aroused; as it is stated (Isaiah 27:19), 'awake and shout for joy, you who dwell in the dust': he who was made dust in his life - meaning to say the humble ones - they are the ones that will be revived." And they emphasized this and said that any man that has coarse spirit in him, the Divine Presence cries out about him; as it is stated (Psalms 138:6), "and the high ones from afar, He makes known." And they elaborated with their words. They said in saying that tsaarat (a Biblical form of leprosy) is a punishment for the haughty ones, "For a swelling (seiat), for a rash, or for a discoloration" (Leviticus 14:56) - and a swelling is only height (haughtiness), as it is stated (Isaiah 2:14), "the elevated (nisaot) hills." It is as if it said to the one who becomes uppity is a swelling [of tsaarat]. And the end is what they said (Sotah 5a), 'In excommunication is the one that has it and in excommunication is the one that does not have it at all.'" [This] means to say that a person should not be humble in spirit to the final extreme, as it is not from the virtues. And they quantified it metaphorically - one in sixty four parts, meaning to say if we place pride in one corner and lowliness of spirit in another corner, there would be sixty four parts along the spectrum. And he should stand in the sixty-third section. He does not only want the mean with this trait, so as to escape from pride. As if he were to be missing [just] one section and [proportionately] come closer to pride, he would be put in excommunication. And that is the opinion of Rava about humility. But Rav Nachman decided and said that it is not fitting for a man to have from it - meaning to say from pride - not a large a section and not a small section, as its sin is not small. That which makes man into an abomination is not fitting to [even] approach. They said about this matter, "Rav Nachman bar Yitschak said, 'Not form it and not from part of it. And is it a small thing that which is written, 'An abomination of the Lord is anyone of a high heart?'" And to strengthen [precaution] from this cursed sin, [Rabbi Levitas] said, "Be very, very lowly in spirit for the hope of man is worms" - meaning to say that you need to force yourself until you have distanced yourself from pride, by your thinking of the end of the body, and that is its return to worms.

You know from Scripture that the unintentional transgressor has a sin. And because of this, he needs atonement with a sacrifice. And God, may He be blessed, said about him, "And he is forgiven from his sin that he sinned." But he is not like the intentional sinner. God forbid, for the One of the straight path, God - may He be blessed - to equate the intentional with the unintentional in [any] thing from the things. Rather his intention here is that the desecration of the Name, whether it is intentional or unintentional, will be punished publicly - if it was intentional, the punishment for intentional, if it was unintentional, the punishment for unintentional. But both punishments are public.

After I decided not to speak about this testament because it is clear and since, according to my opinion, my words will not please most of the great Torah sages - and perhaps any of them - I went back on my decision and I will speak about it, without paying attention to the earlier or contemporary [rabbis]. Know that that which he said not to make the Torah into a spade with which to dig - meaning to say, do not consider it a tool to live by - he explained and said that anyone who benefits in this world from the honor of Torah removes his life from the world - the explanation of which is, from life in the world to come. Yet people have missed this obvious language and thrown it over the backs. And they have depended upon understandings of the words that they [themselves] did not understand - and I will explain them. And they established rules for themselves upon individuals and upon communities, and they brought people to think in their total foolishness that it is mandatory and fitting that they help the sages and their students and the people involved in Torah, and for whom their Torah [study] is their craft. And this is all a mistake, and nothing is found in the Torah or in the words of the rabbis, may their memory be blessed, that substantiates it or gives it a basis to rest upon at all. As when we look into the words of the rabbis, may their memory be blessed, we do not find among them that they were requesting money from people and they did not collect money for the honored and precious academies, nor for the heads of the exiles, nor for their judges, nor for the promulgators of Torah - not for one of their greats and not for any people of the nation. Rather, we find in each and every generation in all of their communities that there were among [the Torah scholars] poor men of extreme poverty and wealthy men of extreme wealth. And God forbid that I should suspect those generations of not being doers of kindness and givers of charity. As if such a poor man had extended his hand to receive it, they would have filled his house with gold and pearls; but he did not want [it]. Rather he sufficed with [the earnings from] the work in which he engaged - whether comfortably or with duress - and he was loath of what [came from] the hand of people, since the Torah prevented him from it. And you already know that Hillel the Elder was a wood chopper and that he studied in front of Shemaya and Avtalyon and he was extremely poor. And his rank was such that you know that some of his students were compared to Moshe, Aharon and Yehoshua; and the least of his students was Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai. And there is no doubt to the intelligent one that if he had instructed the people of his generation to let him benefit from them, they would not have allowed him to be a wood chopper. And [also] Rabbi Chaninah ben Dosa - about whom a heavenly voice went out and said, "The whole world is only nourished for the sake of my son, Chaninah; and my son, Chaninah, has enough with a kav of carobs from one Shabbat eve to [the next] Shabbat eve" (Berakhot 17b) - yet he did not request [anything] from people. And Karna was a judge in the Land of Israel and he was a water drawer. And when litigants would come in front of him, he would say, "Give me someone to draw [the water] in my place or [the wage from] my absence and I will adjudicate for you." And the Jews in that generation were not not cruel and were not lacking in doing kindness. And we do not find any sage of the poor sages that reviled the people of his generation for not making them rich - God forbid for them [to have done so]. Rather they believed in God, may He be blessed, and in the Torah of Moshe, through which a person merits life in the world to come. And [so] they did not allow themselves to request money from people. And they saw that taking it was a desecration of [God's] name in the eyes of the masses, because they would think that Torah is a profession from the professions though which a person lives and it will become disgraced in their eyes. And [so] the one that would do this, 'the word of God, he will disgrace.' However the ones that drew strength to disagree with the truth and with simple and obvious verses by taking people's money - whether voluntarily or against their will - were misled by stories that are found in the Gemara about people that [were disabled] or elderly, having come up in days, such that it was impossible for them to do work. As there was no strategy for them [to survive] except for the taking of money from others. And if not, what would they do - should they die? And the Torah did not command this. And you will find that the story that they bring as a proof (Bava Metzia 84b) when they said 'she was like merchant ships, from far does she bring her bread,' is about [someone disabled] who was not able to do work. But with the ability [to do work], the Torah does not create [such] a path. And Rabbi Yosef would carry wood from place to place and would say, "(Beautiful) [Great] is work, as it heats up its master" - meaning to say with the effort of his limbs. Since by carrying the heavy wood, he would heat up his body without a doubt. And he would praise this and be happy with it. And he derived pleasure from that which God, may He be blessed, apportioned to him, that which was for him from the virtues of sufficing. And I have heard the crazy and confused ones base themselves on the proof that they bring from their saying (Berakhot 10b), "One who seeks to benefit, let him benefit like Elisha; and one who does not seek to benefit, let him not benefit like Shmuel from Rama." And this is not at all similar to what they are bringing. Rather, for me, it is a great mistake to bring a proof from it, as it is clear and there is no room for a person to make a mistake in it. As Elisha did not take money from people - all the more so did he not request [it] from them and establish rules for them, God forbid. Instead, he would only take honor when someone gave him lodging when he passed by, to be in his home. And he would eat his bread on that night or on that day and he would return to his affairs. But Shmuel would not enter the home of a person and would not eat from any man. And about something like this the sages, may their memory be blessed, said that if a Torah scholar wants to emulate this to the point that he not enter the house of [any] person, that right is in his hand. But if he wants to lodge with people in his passing by them for the needs of [his] travel expenses, that right is [also] in his hand. As they already warned about eating [as a guest of] any man when it is not necessary. And they said (Pesachim 49a), "A Torah scholar that proliferates his meal in every place, etc." And they [also] said, "It is forbidden for a Torah scholar to benefit from any meal that is not [pertinent] to a commandment." And why should I write at length about this matter. Instead, I will mention a story which elucidates it in the Gemara (Nedarim 62a). And it is that a [certain] man had a vineyard in which thieves would enter. And each time he would see them on each day he [would] find his fruit lessening progressively. And he did not have a doubt that one of the thieves put his eye upon it. And [so], he was pained by this all the days of the harvest until he harvested what [was left for him to] harvest. And he put them out to dry until they dried and he gathered in the raisins. And the way of people when they gather dried fruit is that a few individual figs or grapes would fall. And it is permissible to eat them because they are ownerless and the owners already left them for their finders due to their small quantity. And Rabbi Tarfon came one day to that vineyard by chance and he sat and took from the raisins that fell and ate them. And the owner of the field thought that this was the thief that stole from him the whole year - and he did not recognize [Rabbi Tarfon] but had heard of him. And [so] he immediately took him and overpowered him and placed him in a sack and placed him on his back to throw him into the river. And when Rabbi Tarfon saw this, he yelled out and said, "Woe to Tarfon, for this man is killing him." And when the owner of the vineyard heard, he left him and ran away, knowing that he had sinned a great sin. But Rabbi Tarfon was distressed from that day onwards all of his days and he mourned about that which happened to him, as he saved himself through the honor of the Torah, while he was very rich and could have said, "Leave me and I will give you such and such gold coins." And he could have given them to him and he did not need to inform him that that he was Rabbi Tarfon. And [that way] he would have saved himself with his money and not with Torah. And they said, "All the days of that righteous man, he was distressed over this matter, saying, 'Woe is me, for I made use of the crown of Torah'" - as anyone who use the crown of Torah does not have a share in the world to come and is uprooted from the world. And they said about this, "It was since Rabbi Tarfon was very rich, and he should have appeased him with money." And so [too, the story that] Rebbi (Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi) opened his storehouses in a year of drought and said, "Anyone who wants to come and take his sustenance, let him come and sustain himself, but only if he is a Torah scholar." And Rabbi Yochanan ben Amram came and stood in front of him and he did not recognize him; he said, "Rebbi, sustain me." He said [back] to him, "Have you read [scripture]?" "No." "Have you studied mishnah?" "No." "[If so], with (in the merit of) what should I sustain you?" He said, "Sustain me like a dog or a raven" - meaning to say, even though there is no wisdom in me, just like God, may He be blessed, sustains the impure animal and the impure bird - as an ignoramus is no less than them. And he gave him. But afterwards he regretted [it], since he had seduced him with his words and he said, "Woe to me, since I benefited an ignoramus from my possessions." And the listeners of what happened to him said to him, "Maybe it was Yonatan ben Amram, your student, who does not want to benefit through the honor of Torah, when he could avoid it - and even with a ruse." And he investigated and found that it was so. And these two stories will silence anyone who disagrees about this matter. The things that the Torah did, however, permit to the Torah scholar are that they should give their money to a man to do business according to his choice and the profit will be all for them, if he wants. And one who does this has a great reward for it - and this is "the one who puts merchandise into the 'pocket' of a Torah scholar." And [also] that their merchandise be sold before all [other] merchandise, and that [things] be purchased for them at the beginning of the market [session]. These are rules that God, may He be blessed, established, [just] like He established the gifts for the priest and the tithes for the Levite - according to that which has been received by tradition. As these two actions are done by some businessmen towards each other by way of honor and even though there is no wisdom [to be honored] - a Torah scholar is worthwhile to be like an honored ignoramus. And the Torah eased the rules upon Torah scholars [regarding] taxes and quartering troops and [taxes] specific to each person, and that is called the poll tax - the community pays it for them. And so [too] with [revenue for] the building of walls and similar to them. And even if a Torah scholar is endowed with money, he is not obligated in anything of all this. And Rabbi Yosef Halevi, may his memory be blessed, already instructed a man in a certain place who had gardens and orchards and was obligated to pay thousands of gold coins [in taxes] on their account - and he said that he would be exempted from giving anything on their account from all that we have mentioned, since he was a Torah scholar. And [this is so] although even a poor man in Israel would give this tax. And this is a law of the Torah, [just] like the Torah exempted the priests from the half shekel [that even the poor had to pay] - as we have elucidated in its place - and that which is similar to it.

Honor of the Torah is in teaching alacrity in its performance and honoring the sages that support it and the books that they wrote abut it. And so [too], desecration of the Torah is the opposite of [these] three.

He is nonchalant in legal decisions to force his decisions without awe and fear.

The Torah permitted an expert [known] to the public to judge by himself, as we explained in Sanhedrin. But this is the word of the Torah and here it warns him a little from the angle of ethics and not from the angle of prohibition. And he said [that] if your colleagues disagree with you in an opinion from the opinions, do not force them to accept your argument - as they know if they must accept it, and it is not your right to force them to accept your opinion.

He said that anyone that is occupied with Torah and is poor and needy and - with all of this - pains himself to be occupied with it; in the end he will be occupied with it in wealth, such that there not be anything to disturb him from the reading. And one who is not occupied with Torah because of his multitude of money [so that] his involvement is in eating and in drinking and in rest; in the end he will become impoverished and time will be tight for him - until the reason for his neglect of the reading will be his preoccupation with bread for him to eat.

He said [to] minimize your business and be constant with the Torah and Be humble of spirit before everyone - meaning to say that you not be humble of spirit in front of the big people alone; indeed in front of every man. [Such] that when you sit with any man that it be, your speaking with him should be as if he is greater than you. And all of this is to flee from pride, as we have elucidated. And the matter of many reasons for neglecting it will be presented to you is that there are many things that cause neglect and require someone to be occupied with them. And when you are not occupied with Torah, time will disturb you with one of those things.

A praklit (defender) is [a man] that advises good for a person to the authorities. A katigor (prosecutor ) is the opposite of this - and he is one who tale-bears on a man to the king and attempts to kill him. And they said that repentance after bad deeds or good deeds from the start - each of these two matters - prevent injuries and sicknesses from coming to a person.

These three good ranks were given to this nation at the beginning of the giving of the Torah. And they are priesthood, monarchy and Torah. Aharon merited [to take] priesthood, David merited [to take] monarchy, but the crown of Torah remains for anyone who wants to be crowned with it. And the rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Yoma 72b), "And lest you will say that this crown is less than the other two, it is not like that. Rather it is greater than both of them. And the two are in it, as it is stated (Proverbs 8:15), 'Through me kings reign and rulers decree just laws' and it states (Proverbs 8:16), 'Through me ministers administer, etc.'" But the crown of a good name comes from Torah [as well], meaning to say its knowledge and its practice - as through them does a truly good name come.

He said [to] seek a [proper] place for reading and study, as the reading will become firm and be established [when you are] with another [person]. And do not rely upon your [own] understanding and say that you do not need colleagues and students that will stimulate you.

He said that a man's being a student to someone who is wiser than he is better and more fit than being a teacher to someone lesser than he - as in the first situation he will gain and in the second situation he will decrease. And you should understand [it] from that which we elucidated in Sanhedrin, that they placed the head of an academy of twenty-three [scholars] at the back of a great academy of seventy-one, because of the principle that 'we bring up in holiness and we do not bring down' - as they saw that they raised his rank with this.

A traklin is a chamber and a prozdor is a gatehouse. And the metaphor is clear and the intention is known. As it is in this world that a man acquires the virtues through which he merits the world to come. As this world is indeed a path and a passageway to the world to come.

We have already elucidated in the tenth chapter of Sanhedrin that there is no completion or addition after death. Instead, a person increases and completes his virtue in this world. And about this Shlomo hinted when he stated (Ecclesiastes 9:10), "for there is no action, no reasoning, no knowledge, no wisdom in the grave to where you are going." But this matter is that [the situation] to which a person goes will remain [the same] forever. And because of this a man should make efforts during this short time and not waste his time, but only [spend it] on the acquisition of virtues - as his loss would [otherwise] be great, since he has no replacement [for it] and he cannot acquire [it later]. And since the pious ones knew this, they only saw [fit] to finish their time with wisdom and the increase of virtues; and they benefited from all of their time in the true way. And they only frittered very little time on physical matters and on a thing that it is necessary and impossible without it. But others spent all of their time only in physicality and they left [the world] like they came [to it] - 'all corresponding to how it came, so will it go' - and they lost an eternal loss. And the masses all switched the truth about this question and said that the first group lost the world and that the last group profited [from] the world. And the matter is the opposite, as we have recounted. And they make darkness into light and light into darkness. And woe is it to those that destroy the truth. And Shlomo, peace be upon him, made this matter a fundamental in Ecclesiastes, in his praising the profit of the world and his disgracing its loss. And its elucidation is that there is neither gain nor [any] other acquisition of that which he refrained from here, after death. And this is all true. And when you examine that book from this perspective, the truth will be clear.

This is clear and they are matters of ethics in the improvement of human society by the placement of a word in a place where it will be effective.

'The burning of His anger" is not stated [which is only the heat of anger], but rather "His anger"; [this] teaches that he is forgiven for all of his sins: And even though Shlomo said this command in his wisdom [first in Proverbs], this sage would teach this trait and warn about this sin.

He said that study during the days of childhood will be established and it will not be easily forgotten and that the matter of study in old age is the opposite. And this is clear and visible to the eye. Rabbi Yossi said that the wisdom of young men has questions and doubts that are not purified. And they have not escaped from their difficulties, as they have not had length of days to review their studies and to remove the doubts. But Rebbi says [that] you should not judge the wine by the jug. As there is a new jug with old wine in it and an old jug that is empty and has nothing in it. So [too], there are young men whose questions and wisdom are pure - there is no doubt mixed with them - like old wine, the sediments of which have been separated from it. And there are elders that have no wisdom at all, and there is no need to say that they do not have wisdom that is mixed and confused.

He said that envy, lust and pursuit of honor drive a man form the world. And that is because these traits - or [even] one of them - perforce destroy the faith of the Torah. And [so] neither the intellectual virtues or the disopositional virtues will reach him.

He said, "to know, to make known, and to become conscious". He means with this that He knows the ones that will be born in the future, those that are born now and will die and those that will [return to life] after death. And we learn from these three groups that He is the Maker, He is the Creator. And with his saying, "He is the Judge [...] and He is destined to judge," he wants [to say] that He judges everything now with life and death and all of the other matters of the world, and He is also destined to judge those that will live in the world to come, for reward and punishment. And his saying, no taking of bribes, is like it also stated in the Torah (Deuteronomy 10:17), "shows no favor and takes no bribe." And its matter is not that He does not take a bribe to sway the judgement, as this is from idiocy which is distant from God, may He be blessed - such that it cannot be designed and cannot even be imagined. As how can a bribe be designed for Him - and what will the bribe be? Rather its matter is that which we have elucidated - that He not take the good [deeds] as a bribe. Such that if a man did a thousand good [deeds] and one evil, God, may He be blessed, will not forgive the one sin for the multitude of his good [deeds] and remove one or more goods from his thousand goods. Rather, He will punish for that one evil and reward him for all of those goods. And this is the matter of "takes no bribes." And it is like, "shows no favor" - that He punishes one great in virtues for a small thing; like our teacher Moshe, peace be upon him, was punished for the sin of anger, as we explained in previous chapters, and the reward of Esav the evildoer for honoring father and mother and of Nevuchadnetzar for the honor of God, may He be blessed, as it is clarified in Sanhedrin. And that is the matter of no respect of persons. And examine the statement, against your will you were created, and that which is connected to it - that he mentioned natural matters about which a man has no choice; about which the rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 33b), "Everything is in the hands of Heaven except for the fear of Heaven." And he did not say, "Against your will you sin," or "pass" or "go" or "stand" or what is similar to this. As these are all matters that are in the control of a man and about which there is no compulsion with them, as we explained in the fifth chapter (Eight Chapters 5).